London airports paused flights due to faulty air traffic control
London airports temporarily paused departures as air traffic control suffered from a “technical issue”, causing mass delays at a busy time for holidays.
The UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) said it had solved a problem at its centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire as it was working to resume “normal operations” around London.
“We continue to work closely with airline and airport customers to minimise disruption,” a statement released at 4.30pm read.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”
An earlier statement said a technical issue had forced it to limit the number of aircraft flying in London as it made safety a “first priority”.
Gatwick and Heathrow were among a number of airports which grounded flights while City airport said some flights would be “subject to cancellation”.
Flight radar services showed planes abandoning London due to the closure of its airspace.
Gatwick Airport said in a statement there would continue to be delays as it resumed flights.
Ryanair’s chief operating officer Neal McMahon said it was “outrageous” that passengers had to be hit with delays by Nats as he called for the resignation of its chief executive, Martin Rolfe.
“Yet another air traffic control system failure has resulted in the closure of UK airspace meaning thousands of passengers’ travel plans have been disrupted,” McMahon said.
“It is clear that no lessons have been learnt since the August 2023 Nats system outage and passengers continue to suffer as a result of [chief executive] Martin Rolfe’s incompetence.”
“If Nats [chief executive] Martin Rolfe fails to resign on the back of this latest Nats system outage that has disrupted thousands of passengers yet again, then UK Transport Minister Heidi Alexander must act without delay to remove Martin Rolfe and deliver urgent reform of nat’s shambolic air traffic control service.”
The problem at Swanwick is likely to have wider effects on costs for airlines and delays for thousands of passengers, with aviation data company Crium saying there were a total of 3,080 scheduled departures from UK airports today.
Airport chaos
Eurocontrol, the traffic control agency for Europe, said it expected delays in flights beyond the UK as a result of the issue, creating a backlog on a global scale.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were among those to warn of disruptions affecting departure times on Wednesday.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: “am aware of a technical issue which impacted Nats operations causing travel disruption this afternoon.
“I have been informed systems have now been restored but continued disruption is expected, and passengers should check with individual airports for advice.”
European airlines warned earlier this month that air traffic control issues and weather problems would cause delays at airports, with Ryanair complaining about staff shortages at European agencies.
The industry trade body Airlines for Europe said delays had become “silly”, with just 56 per cent of flights in Europe departing on time in the first week of July.
In some circumstances, people can be entitled to lump sum payments for flight delays and disruptions though it is unlikely that problems with air traffic control may not allow claims for extra compensation to be made.